≫ Libro Gratis The Romance Reader Guide to Life A Novel Sharon Pywell 9781250101754 Books

The Romance Reader Guide to Life A Novel Sharon Pywell 9781250101754 Books

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The Romance Reader Guide to Life A Novel Sharon Pywell 9781250101754 Books

This is a double header, with one a story of 2 independent women making their fortunes after world war two, and another embedded pirate romance, mirroring and contrasting the issues of who's on top. Throw in a dark thread of menace and it turns into a rip-snorter!


Tags : The Romance Reader's Guide to Life: A Novel [Sharon Pywell] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <b> Smart, funny, and compulsively readable. -- Kirkus</i> (starred review)</b> As a young girl,Sharon Pywell,The Romance Reader's Guide to Life: A Novel,Flatiron Books,1250101751,Contemporary Women,Family Life,Missing persons;Fiction.,Murder,Romance fiction,Romance fiction;Fiction.,Sisters,Sisters;Fiction.,Thrillers (Fiction),430401 Flatiron Fiction HC,AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY FICTION,American Contemporary Fiction - Individual Authors +,Coming of Age,FICTION Coming of Age,FICTION Family Life General,FICTION Family Life Siblings,FICTION Women,Fiction,Fiction-Coming of Age,FictionComing of Age,FictionFamily Life - General,GENERAL,General Adult,Historical General,Massachusetts,United States,historical fiction; historical romance fiction; historical fiction books; coming of age; family life; sisters; siblings; missing women; 1950s america; books about books; womens fiction; steamy romance; contemporary fiction; contemporary novels; contemporary romance

The Romance Reader Guide to Life A Novel Sharon Pywell 9781250101754 Books Reviews

This was a very enjoyable reading experience, but I’m not sure I’d call it a romance novel – despite the title and cover. I’m not sure what I was expecting going in, but it wasn’t drama, dark mystery or a theme of violence against women…

The book comes at you from a number of directions and timelines, primarily the lives of two sisters, Neave and Lilly, from their early childhood onward.

Neave is surly and belligerent though clever and strong willed, which is kind of fun to read because she isn’t particularly likable and everyone knows it – she’s not afraid of anyone and is brutally honest in all things, which isolates her from any friendships she might make.

Lilly, however, isn’t a bit shallow but she’s a people person and manages to complement all of her sister’s weaknesses when it comes to running a successful business in post-war USA. Women have been thrown out of the jobs they filled when all the men were fighting, creating a tension between men and women that wasn’t there before.

The chapter alternates between the perspectives of both sisters, as well as including chapters from a romance novel that Neave read as a child which we can draw parallels with as their story progresses. The perspectives the author uses to narrate this book are eccentric, which does make it stand out from the competition but, though it did work for me, I can see it being difficult for many readers to enjoy. It employs some of the same tricks as Lovely Bones, which was one of the few books I’ve never managed to finish.

Personally, I loved the historical drama of how two women created a successful business enterprise in the 1930s as well as the missing person element after Lilly’s disappearance, the romance part I could take or leave given that most men and boys in this book were simply horrible.

If you take this book as a dark mystery with strong female voices, you’re in for a very strange treat.

Book Reviewed on Whispering Stories Blog
*I received a free copy of this book, which I voluntarily reviewed
There is a certain inherent distrust between the writers (and readers) of romance fiction and the devotees of literary fiction. Sharon Pywell, in a closing statement to this book, states that she never read a romance until after reaching adulthood, when she picked one up off a lending library shelf out of sheer boredom and a lack of something else to read.

The problem with coming to romantic fiction as an adult, as an author who already writes literary fiction, is the instinct to over-analyse things. Romances are about escapism, and here is where I think this author has fundamentally missed the point.

In writing a literary fiction novel about a fan of romance novels, including snippets of a supposed 'real' romance novel, the author has managed to create a book that is the absolute opposite of escapist. Full of drudgery, cruelty, sadism and murder, reading it felt like trudging through quicksand.

Literary fiction fans are snobs; they wouldn't begin to comprehend why a supposedly 'intelligent woman' would read or write romance. Believe me, as a romance author I've encountered more than my fair share of this kind of snobbery in writers' forums. There's a certain attitude that I must be only in it for the money (that would be funny if I was making enough to live on, really).

The truth is that a romance author writes, and a romance author reads, because we love the escapism of it all, the freedom to flee from a world that is far too often full of drudgery into one full of love and happy endings all around. Worst of all, even the romance novel within the novel, The Pirate's Lover, was terrible, and certainly not something that would have seen the light of day in the publishing climate of the 1930s when it was supposedly written. It reminded me vaguely of the rape-tastic Kathleen Woodiwiss books of the early 1970s. They were dreadful then and holding a similar book up as some sort of guide for anyone to live by in any era is absolutely ghastly.

There is no shame in enjoying romance novels, but by including such a rubbish one in a literary fiction book as an integral part of the plot the author only contributes further to the (extremely misogynistic) sneering stereotypes that literary fiction authors and readers already ascribe to those who enjoy romance.

I can only suggest that the author subscribe to the Smart Bitches Trashy Books blog and start reading GOOD romance novels. Maybe then she could try writing one herself and find out what they are REALLY about. Actual plot, decent pacing, characters that draw the readers in and a happy ending for EVERYONE we've come to care about.

Any one of those things in this book might have made it a half-decent read; as it was it took me two days to wade through it when my average read time for a book of this length is about 90 minutes. Not only that but it's left me in a bad temper because of the further wedge it drives in between the literary fiction and the romance fiction community, when I started it hoping that it would do exactly the opposite - that's why I selected it to read in the first place. One star.

Disclaimer I received a copy of this book for review through NetGalley.
I enjoyed the story and the alternating viewpoints were interesting, though sometimes a bit obtrusive. The characters were vivid and engaging.
It was disappointing to say the least. I was curious about the reviews so I bought it. I really hated the dog chapters, and the skipping around. The first few chapters caught my attention, so I kept reading. It was painful.
Couldn't wait to get to bed at night to finish the story.
This is a double header, with one a story of 2 independent women making their fortunes after world war two, and another embedded pirate romance, mirroring and contrasting the issues of who's on top. Throw in a dark thread of menace and it turns into a rip-snorter!